Statements at the Meeting with Veterans and Commanders of the Sacred Defense

In the Name of God, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful

Thanks be to God, the Lord of the worlds, and peace and blessings be upon our master and prophet, Abu al-Qasim al-Mustafa Muhammad, and upon his pure and infallible progeny, especially the Awaited One among the inhabitants of the earth.

This session is one of the best, most necessary, and, God willing, most beneficial sessions that is held in this Hussainiyah attributed to Imam Khomeini (may his soul be sanctified). Praising the veterans is a duty for all; a veteran in any field is respected and honored by those interested in that field. The Sacred Defense — that passionate, eventful, meaningful, and beneficial period — is among the events that have an impact on our past, present, and future; therefore, the veterans of this event, this important incident, must certainly be given attention, care, and respect. I express my utmost respect and devotion to you, dear veterans of the Sacred Defense — whether those present here, those in various cities who listen to our remarks and attend sessions, or the tens of thousands of others who are not present in the sessions but are among the veterans.

In fact, the veterans are the embodiment of "the foremost among the foremost"; they are the embodiment of "and the foremost among the foremost"; that is, those who recognized the need earlier than others and rushed to meet that need; especially in a difficult field like the battlefield, the field of jihad, the field of sacrifice; these are the "foremost". Therefore, praising and respecting them is a duty for all of us.

Well, thirty-some years have passed since the end of the Sacred Defense. In fact, the summation of events can be done from afar; when we are in the midst of an event, it is not possible to see the dimensions of the event; that is, when you were busy making efforts in the heat of the Sacred Defense, you certainly could not see the dimensions of this event and its characteristics, its breadth and depth, its impacts, as you can today. Today, the Sacred Defense can be seen as it happened, and I believe that as time passes, if the works that Mr. General Baqeri mentioned here are carried out well and completely, and attention is paid to their outcomes, this knowledge and awareness will increase, and the Sacred Defense will be better recognized. Naturally, this period in our history will be recognized as a brilliant and impactful period, and this work is necessary and must be done. I have previously made detailed remarks regarding the works that need to be done in the context of the Sacred Defense — that is, regarding the narration of this important incident — and today I will say a few words at the end of my speech, but it must be noted that this issue is fundamental. You know many issues of the Sacred Defense; the new generation does not. The new generation does not know many issues of the Sacred Defense. My point is this: just as you who were in the incident know the matters, we must do something so that today’s generation recognizes, sees, and knows that incident in the same way; this is the expectation I have from myself and from others in this regard.

Now I will present a few truths about the Sacred Defense, and my aim is that these words reach the ears of our youth, reach the ears of our teenagers. I have some connection with the youth; sometimes questions are asked, sometimes something is said, and I see that they do not know many things; they truly lack information. I want these truths, the truths of the Sacred Defense, to reach their ears. Of course, we will not say more than a few words in this limited session, but the main work is the responsibility of those in charge of this matter, some of whom are present in this session. The truths we pay attention to regarding the war and the Sacred Defense — which we have repeatedly stated — are no longer just claims. For example, one day we claimed that all the global powers were fighting us, that our war was an international war; we said this; East, West, NATO, and so on. Well, this was our claim at that time, and someone might have said, well, you are claiming; today they themselves are saying these things; today the documents and evidence are being published by them, and one sees their confessions, their documents; thus, the same claims we made are being proven. These truths we present are of this kind.

Yes, Saddam attacked — who was a madman of power — but behind Saddam stood global arrogance; primarily the West and on the other side, the Soviet regime and the Eastern countries dependent on the former Soviet Union; these were behind Saddam; they encouraged him to do this — of course, he was power-hungry, and his background was prepared for this, but they also encouraged him and, so to speak, showed him the green light — they promised that they would support him, and they did support him; that is, they acted according to their promises for Saddam. Therefore, the side of the war was not merely Saddam and the Ba'ath regime of Iraq but global arrogance, the system of domination.

One truth I want to emphasize is that the military attack on the country after the revolution was not unexpected; their attack on the revolutionary system was a natural matter; why? Because they were extremely angry about the revolution, and this was their reaction to this great revolution. This revolution accomplished things that perhaps we ourselves were not fully aware of; they understood more than we did at that time what had happened in the world with this revolution. It was not merely that the Islamic Revolution of Iran inflicted a temporary political defeat on America or on global arrogance or on the system of domination; it was not just that; this revolution was a threat to the empire of the system of domination. Now, most of your ages do not allow you to have seen the events of those days in the documents and press of that time, but the reality was this. At that time, in the world, governments and nations were either dependent on this faction or dependent on that faction. Of course, dependency was of various types, but it was a general dependency; that is, someone who relied on the Western system could speak two words against the Eastern system with the confidence of that system; and vice versa. The fact that a nation, a country stands up and independently faces this empire of the system of domination, speaks its own words, delivers a new message, was absolutely intolerable. The fact that a nation was not afraid of America, of the military, political, and economic power that dominated the world at that time, was absolutely intolerable for them; especially a political system that was established in a place that was the complete point of hope and reliance and greed of one of the two powers, namely America, was in Iran.

I do not know if you see these books, these writings, if you read them, if you have time or not; the view that the Westerners and Americans, especially these Western powers — America and some European countries — had towards Iran was one of complete confidence and assurance in domination and that they could use the abundant resources here without any fear, without any concern. In such a place, suddenly a revolution occurs, a personality like Imam Khomeini (may his soul be sanctified) rises, mobilizes the nation, lines them up, and a nation of thirty-some million stands up with all its power; this was absolutely intolerable for them, so they had to take revenge, they had to retaliate, they had to strike back, and they did strike back, but it was ineffective; they staged coups, they carried out military air attacks in Tabas, they incited Iranian tribes; they did many of these things, but it did not work, it did not reach a conclusion; thus, a military war had to be imposed. A full-scale military war had to be carried out by a neighbor; this neighbor was easily found; a power-hungry madman, neighboring Iran; they had a history, and they provoked him to enter. Therefore, this military movement was not something unexpected; it had to happen.

At that time, I was in the Ministry of Defense, and I had a lot of interactions; when we sat down to talk with our military officials, they, of course, made some guesses, but the revolutionary group really did not believe that such a serious attack would occur; yes, there were border skirmishes, but we did not really realize that a comprehensive attack of this kind would happen; however, those who were more experienced than us — we were inexperienced at that time — those whose experience was greater than ours understood that such a thing would happen. Ahmed Sekou Touré, the President of Guinea, who was one of the prominent political figures in Africa and an independent man, came to Iran several times; it was early in my presidency that he came with a delegation to request that we agree to a ceasefire with Iraq; it had only been a year or two since the war started, and they came to see if a ceasefire could be established, but he privately told me that you should know that this war was inevitable for you — the essence of his words was — because any revolution that they cannot overthrow and cannot bring the revolutionary nation to its knees will ultimately lead to such a war; such a war will inevitably be imposed, and he mentioned examples where this had happened, and this work is the work of the arrogant powers. He was an elderly man at that time when he told me this; he said imperialism — in his words "imperialism", in our words "global arrogance" — does not relent, it pursues, and it imposes this war.

Well, this is a truth. Now, some people start propaganda saying, "Sir, why did you go to war with Iraq?"; as if we had launched a campaign to conquer Iraq! Such a thing did not happen. Or "Why did you continue the war after the liberation of Khorramshahr? Did you want to stop the war?"; well, fortunately — I mean, from one perspective fortunately — a bitter incident occurred in the last attack of the war, after we accepted it, Imam accepted the resolution; I also announced it as President and told the United Nations. After that, Iraq attacked us; after we accepted Resolution 598, Iraq, which had almost retreated behind the border, especially from the Khuzestan region and all the occupied areas, came back to the Hamid barracks, which is one of the important and sensitive areas, and entered the country again. After our forces launched an attack, they moved from all over the country and hit the invaders in the mouth and expelled them; the Merasad incident in the western country began.

They think that if after the Khorramshahr incident we had put our hands together and sat aside, the matter would have ended; it would not have ended; it would have just begun. The day Khorramshahr was liberated in the Operation Beit al-Muqaddas, a significant part of our lands was still under the enemy's army; that is, speaking without consideration, irresponsibly expressing opinions is one of the trials that truly exists. The issue was not that we wanted to start a war, we wanted to attack, we wanted to continue; no, the issue was a strategic policy of the enemy and the system of domination and the empire of the system of domination; that was the issue. They had to bring the Iranian nation to its knees; they were pursuing this; they had to bring the Islamic Republic system, which had stood against them, to its knees; that was their demand, they were pursuing this. One of the important truths of the Sacred Defense is to know who our opponent was in the Sacred Defense, what his motivation was, and why he attacked; this is one of the important issues I have pointed out. Well, this is the first truth.

The second truth, which is also very important, is that these three elements of the revolution — namely, the great power of the revolution, the boiling power of the revolution, and the leadership of the Imam, which was a very important and effective element, and the prominent characteristics of the Iranian nation — turned this threat into an opportunity. The war is a bitter incident, a definite threat, but the fervor of the revolution, the power of the revolution, the leadership of the Imam, and the prominent characteristics of the Iranian nation were able to turn this great threat into a great opportunity, which is one of the exhilarating chapters of the Sacred Defense; a lot of work needs to be done in this regard; a lot of work needs to be done. The opportunities that arose from the Sacred Defense for the country are unknown to most people; events occurred that I will briefly refer to some of them, but the whole matter is much more than what I am presenting.

Well, let us see what the goals of the war were, why we were attacked, why Saddam attacked us. His initial goal was to disintegrate the country and separate an important part of the country, namely Khuzestan; initially, the goal was to separate this area; the people of Khuzestan and the Arab people of Khuzestan, despite the enemy, performed one of the best defenses themselves. Yes, people from all over the country went to Khuzestan, but in Khuzestan itself, a fighter and warrior like Martyr Ali Hashemi — who is from Ahvaz; an Arab from Ahvaz — becomes one of the prominent figures of the defense; that is, the people of Khuzestan acted this way against the enemy; well, this was the initial goal.

However, in later stages — as we said — the discussion was about bringing the Iranian nation to its knees. They wanted to overthrow the Islamic Republic; they wanted to change the fate of Iran; that was the goal. They wanted to change the fate that was being drawn by the revolution and alter the fate of Iran; that was the goal. They wanted to stifle the voice of the Iranian nation. The Iranian nation had a new message, a new word to present to the world. "Islamic Republic" is a new word. "Religious democracy" is a new word, a new arrangement for life, a new style for the lives of nations; they wanted this message, which is the message of resistance, the message of standing firm, the message of not submitting to bullying, the message of confronting oppression, the message of opposing international discrimination, not to reach; they wanted to stifle this message; that was the goal.

Well, this nation had been able to put an end to a corrupt dependent regime; in addition, it had been able to humiliate a great power like America. They wanted to make it so that other nations would take a lesson; they wanted them to understand that if someone rose against America and did such things, like the Iranian nation that was suppressed, they would be suppressed; other nations should understand this and the door to resistance should be closed; that was the ultimate and fundamental goal.

Well, now what was the response of the Iranian nation? The Iranian nation neutralized all these goals and raised itself up, and exactly the opposite of what they wanted to happen occurred. That is why I said this is a very exhilarating chapter and an exciting chapter; the nation achieved exactly the opposite of what they were pursuing and longing for and spent so much on.

Firstly, as I pointed out, the very parts they wanted to separate from the country, the people of those parts stood up with great motivation; they did not pay attention to the temptation of being Arab and speaking the same language and such words; they stood firm. I myself saw an Arab family in a village around Ahvaz, who when the enemy forces, the Ba'ath forces, left there and we entered, celebrated as if they should hold a festival; they were so happy. They were an Arab family; [individuals] who did not understand Persian; we saw this with our own eyes. They did not sympathize with them, did not cooperate with them, stood against them, rose up, fought, and gave martyrs. Well, their temptations, which constantly tempted them, could not weaken them. They also had elements within the Iranian community who worked for them; this was also the case, but none of these could accomplish what they wanted.

Secondly, the Sacred Defense became a field for the emergence of the religious beliefs and moral virtues of the Iranian nation. There are certain characteristics in nations that now arise from historical, cultural, geographical, or climatic influences — whatever it is — nations have characteristics that sometimes do not emerge; that is, they do not find a field for emergence. The Sacred Defense became a field for the emergence of the best virtues of the Iranian nation; these sacrifices, these struggles, these faiths; who would have believed it? Who would have imagined it? Families from all over the country willingly sent their children to the field of the Sacred Defense; they even anticipated that they might be killed, but at the same time, they sent them willingly; fathers and mothers with great sacrifices, devoted spouses. The entire country effectively became the defensive depth of the front lines. The front lines of the southern and western fronts were there, but the entire country became the defensive depth of this front line; whether those who went to war, those who supported, those who provided intellectual support, those who encouraged and motivated, those who defined the religious basis of the war; all of these supported; these were the prominent characteristics of the Iranian nation; these emerged, they became apparent. The support, the gifts from the people; cities and villages, mosques and gatherings, seminaries and universities, all were at the service of the war; at the service of the defense, at the service of the revolution; this [achievement] was the emergence of the characteristics of the Iranian nation.

Another achievement was the unity of the nation. Those who remember that time know that at high political levels in the country, divisions were being created; when the war started, one of our problems at that time was precisely this: the disagreements between the President and the Prime Minister due to the misconduct and misbehavior of the President, which had divided the people into two parts and had even created divisions and splits within families. The groups were also busy creating discord for their own benefit; they divided the people into groups. The Sacred Defense came and unified the people; the Sacred Defense united the people; the entire country became united behind the Sacred Defense. Of course, there are always exceptions, but the masses of the people became united and all were at the service of the Sacred Defense.

Another achievement, one of the instances of turning threats into opportunities, was the military power of the country. When the war started, our military situation was not good: the army had been hit; it had suffered blows before the revolution, during the revolution, and after the revolution; the IRGC had not yet taken root, had not gained a presence. The Sacred Defense was able, on one hand, to be a test of the loyalty of the Islamic Republic Army to the sacred Islamic system, which brought its capabilities to the field and produced prominent personalities who accomplished great works; on the other hand, the IRGC emerged as a shining reality. If it had not been for the Sacred Defense, even the body of the IRGC and its structure might not have remained; for example, it could have met the fate of the committees. It was the Sacred Defense that was able to bring the IRGC with this order, with this organization, with this management to the forefront.

The popularity of the armed forces increased. When in a country the people become interested in the armed forces, develop affection for them, a sense of security arises in that country; when the people feel secure about the army and the IRGC, naturally, a sense of security arises among the people. This sense of security is very important, and this happened; the Sacred Defense provided this sense of security for them. And of course, I would like to mention here, as the respected officials of the army and the IRGC are present, that this popularity and this power will last as long as the armed forces maintain their progressive movement with the same momentum they have; that is, they must not lag behind the enemy. Of course, we have moved very well until today; our forces have made good progress in various sectors, in various organizations; my assessment in this regard is that this progress has been good, but the danger of stagnation must always be kept in mind. Stagnation is a danger and can happen at any moment. Stagnation also means regression; stagnation does not mean staying in one place; when you stop for a moment, you have regressed; because the enemy is moving forward. You must be careful. This must be noted by both military officials and state officials; the government and parliament must know that supporting the armed forces is one of the obligatory tasks.

Well, today, fortunately, the country has reached a stage of deterrence; that is, the military situation of the country and the security that arises from this has reached a point where the country is in a state of deterrence against external threats; that is, it is not worried, it feels powerful, and others know this, the opponents and enemies also know this. This is also a point.

Then, regarding the armed forces, I should also mention — of course, you who have been there know this; those who were not there or the young generation today who did not witness the events of the war [should know] — sometimes it is said that the human wave and the youth and such things [advanced the war]; the matter was not like this; in the overall military movements of the eight years, there was a noticeable presence of planning and rationality. Now, in General Baqeri's report, some of these methods and tactics that were employed in the Sacred Defense were innovative and are intended to be included in textbooks or have been or will be. The reality is this; that is, when one looks, suppose that movement or that tactic that occurred in the Operation Fath al-Mubin is teachable, it can be shown to the world; the design was not a small task; now the execution is another discussion; the essence of the design. Or in the Operation Beit al-Muqaddas, where the enemy is to our west and has taken the vast desert and areas there, we should naturally come from the north towards the south and confront them; the nature of the matter and the appearance of the matter is this; but the planners in the operational headquarters and in the main command centers find a new way: instead of coming from the north to confront them, they come from the east towards the west, cut off the Karun River, and besiege the enemy, so that when the enemy feels that it is being attacked in this way, out of fear of being besieged, a large part of the enemy leaves this area and goes away. These are planning, these are rationality, these are not things that can be easily overlooked; these are very important matters; planning and rationality. In many operational areas, one can see similar instances; they existed in the west, they existed in the south repeatedly. Or the issue of Valfajr 8 and crossing the Arvand, the very important Operation Kheibar, and other matters; the works that were done there, the designs that were made there, were designs that one rarely observes similar to; it was rationality. This is another point.

Another issue, which is also among these instances of turning threats into opportunities, is that the Sacred Defense established a principle for the Iranian nation, and that principle is that the preservation of the country and its deterrence from the encroachments of the enemy is achieved through resistance, not through submission; this became a principle. At that time, there were those who believed in submission, but in various forms; now it might not have been explicitly called submission, but its meaning and essence were submission, which the Imam firmly stood against in various sections and stages. In the overall jihad of the Sacred Defense, the Iranian nation understood that victory, progress, the enemy's retreat, and the preservation of the country come through resistance, not through submission; this is what we understood; this is what the Iranian nation achieved; this became a principle for us. We have used this principle in many different political, economic, cultural, and other matters. The position of the country in many of these issues and headings is a position of standing firm, a position of action, a position of progress, not a position of submission and retreat. This feeling that we must resist has led to both internal confidence and self-assurance being established — that is, among the political figures of the country, the active elements of the country, the cultural activists of the country, they have gained a self-confidence in all the various issues that arise for a country and have gained a sense of assurance — and it has also taught the enemy to take into account Iran's internal power in its calculations, to take into account Iran's resistance. Fortunately, with this spirit, we have been able to thwart several of the enemy's important plans. Our political forces, our military forces have been able to thwart the enemy in many places; the enemy imposed maximum pressure, and it failed; the enemy brought forth the new Middle East plan, and it failed; the enemy attempted to encroach on our borders from the air and sea in various ways, and it failed; its aerial drone was shot down, its maritime aggressor was captured; national self-confidence is precisely this; this stems from the same principle learned in the Sacred Defense that resistance is the way to preserve the country.

Now, I have discussed these matters; the discussion is very extensive; there is neither time nor is it appropriate to talk more about this, but among the important points that I insist on being repeated is the issue of the correct narration of the war, which I have emphasized many times. The activities that have taken place so far have been good activities; that is, the activities have been good activities. I told the friends outside [the Hussainiyah] that we looked at this exhibition; what has happened so far is the infrastructure; these are infrastructures that can be used for cultural activities, intellectual activities, political activities, historical activities; these infrastructures must be utilized; but these activities are necessary; you must observe the outcomes of the work. You will feel satisfaction when you see that your high school teenager, your university youth looks at the Sacred Defense with the same eyes that you look at it and has the same understanding of the Sacred Defense and the events that have occurred following the Sacred Defense. If this happens, success in the future in various fields is guaranteed; as we have seen so far, the various instances of correct narrations and their impact. The same youths who went to defend the shrine and were martyred are those who were born years after the end of the war. [Understanding] the important stories of the great martyrs of the Sacred Defense, suppose a youth like Martyr Hajji [or] that young man from Dorcheh or another one brings them into the field, and with that courage and bravery, just like in the era of the Sacred Defense, they go and strive and become martyrs.

Of course, the enemy's effort is to act contrary to the truth in this matter of narration. The enemy denies the peaks and heights; if there is a case of a low point, they magnify it; undoubtedly, this is the enemy's work. They are carrying out cultural work, propaganda work, and media work with intensity and severity; they try to showcase the splendor and glory of global arrogance to the youth; they want to dazzle them with their glitter; they want to hide their bitterness and darkness and, in contrast, conceal the heights and importance and blessings arising from the Sacred Defense and the issues surrounding it; they want to scare the people from them. When the enemy's glitter dazzles the eyes of the audiences of other nations like our nation [in the past], when the false splendor and glory of the enemy is showcased, its result in the political field is fear of the enemy; in the cultural field, it is submission to the enemy and self-deprecation before the enemy; that is why this work of narration is very important.

Efforts should be made to respond to distorted, false, and deceptive narrations about the Sacred Defense, and also these kinds of narrations about the revolution itself should be addressed. They are currently busy; I see some of the books that Zionists or Americans or Europeans write. They make films, write books to falsely portray a dark point in the revolution and in the movement of the Iranian nation and in the pillars of the revolution; against these, efforts must be made. Those who are engaged in work, those who are thinkers, those who are artists must be able to, God willing, carry out works.

In any case, there is still much to say in this regard. We hope that God grants you success so that you can fulfill what is upon each of us, God willing. And once again, we express our devotion and respect to the veterans of the Sacred Defense and the experienced ones, and truly the foremost among the foremost, and we hope that God Almighty elevates the ranks of the great Imam Khomeini (may his soul be sanctified) who opened this path for all of us, and may He exalt the pure souls of our dear martyrs and make them pleased with us, God willing.

Peace be upon you and God's mercy and blessings.